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MIDPOINT Smash Cut
MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2022
MIDPOINT Smash Cut is a project-based program designed for creators of short-form series (up to 20 mins per episode) coming from the Central and Eastern European region.
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The program is designed to help the participants define their series concept, outline their pilot script and season as well as explain the specifics of short-form series and the difference to long-form series in storytelling. It is led by established series creator Sullivan Le Postec (Woke). Several guest tutors also join the program, covering various aspects of short-form series creation and offering the participants in-depth individual consultations.
Le Postec explains the title of the program: “A smash cut is an editing technique where one scene abruptly cuts to another. You could say it has become the normal cut of the YouTube generation. It’s one of the techniques short-form series can use to achieve high efficiency. But more importantly, I felt it was a name evocative of their high, youthful energy: short-form series often have big ambitions.”
MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2022 is realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Czech Film Fund. It runs in partnership with Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event. MIDPOINT Institute operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Sullivan Le Postec
Group Leader
Kirsten Loose
Guest Tutor
Hyppe Salmi
Guest Tutor
Tim Wagendorp
Guest Tutor
BUDGET AIRLINE
MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2022
LATVIA, CANADA
Project original title: Budget Airline Countries: Latvia, Canada Genre: comedy, dramedy Screenwriter: Zane MacDonald Language: English Type: ongoing series Number of episodes: 8 Duration of episode (in minutes): 20
Synopsis
Richard Pinus, a naive yet ambitious dreamer on the wrong side of 35, has zero aviation or business training. But that won’t stop him from buying a bankrupt airline on an online auction in one last bid to put his life on the fast-track and maybe even revolutionising the next generation of budget flying.
Richard’s lofty ambitions puts him in constant conflict with a team who couldn’t care less. He’s passionate about providing a high-end experience for his passengers but almost always overshoots the airline’s financial and professional capabilities. While Richard believes in free luggage, ample legroom and bottomless snacks, business is business. Richard seems to be the least likely guy for the job, but his passion and courage to follow his dreams ultimately proves contagious and slowly he wins people over. Sure, he can’t tell the difference between turnover and revenue and it is way more exciting to sample cured meats for their ham & cheese Panini. But he’s learning, okay?
Screenwriter
Zane MacDonald is a Latvian filmmaker, residing in Riga, Latvia. In 2011, she graduated with a BA in Media from Tallinn University's Baltic Film and Media School (Estonia) and, in 2014, she earned an MA in Screenwriting from Edinburgh Napier University, Screen Academy Scotland (UK).
For over a decade she has worked on international films, commercials, and music videos as a producer and production manager. She is a firm believer in the power of good storytelling and she is always open to new creative collaborations. Currently, Zane is focusing on Budget Airline series development together with writer/director Christian MacDonald. And she’s got a few other pitches up her sleeve. Email her. No, but really.
Zane MacDonald
Contact
Zane MacDonald Strangefolk Films zaneamacd@gmail.com
SLOPPY
Project original title: Lohakas Country: Estonia Genre: coming of age, dramedy Screenwriter: Vivian Säde Director: Vivian Säde Language: Estonian Type: ongoing series Number of episodes: 6 Duration of episode (in minutes): 20
Logline
Estonian small-town girl Manna's world is rocked when her boyfriend breaks up with her on the same day as her long-divorced parents announce their re-engagement. It also happens to be her 18th birthday…
Synopsis
In the small Estonian island of Saaremaa, Manna, a blue-eyed yet strong-willed 18-year-old with a nervous disposition, gets broken up with by her childhood sweetheart Georg, 19, a slimy professional ice-skater, on the morning of her birthday. Just after this occurs, her mother Jane and father Leo let her know that they’ve chosen to get remarried after seven years of being divorced. Unable to process both of those things happening at once, Manna bolts to Tallinn in her scrap of
POWR / Norway MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2022
ESTONIA
a car, finding her way to the hipster neighborhood of Kalamaja, as well as her cousin Olli, 21, who made her way into the big city a year before due to her mother's conservative views on her homosexuality. The two wreak havoc on "big city" nightlife, including breaking into an ice rink to get revenge on Georg, dating apps and dodgy parties. Manna meets Uku, a not-so-nice guy and also Arno, an-actually-nice-guy, but neither one gives her what she really needs - the courage to be able to face her „big feelings.“
Screenwriter
Vivian Säde is a screenwriter and director from Tallinn, Estonia. Säde graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Audiovisual Media from Tallinn University's Baltic Film and Media School as a writer-director in 2020 and from Edinburgh Napier University (Screen Academy Scotland) with a Master's degree in Screenwriting in 2021. It's About a Wedding, a comedy-drama short film written and directed by Säde, premiered in the National Competition programme of Black Nights Film Festival’s PÖFF Shorts 2020 film festival to critical acclaim. Säde is also the owner of production company Moondustfilms (est. 2018), with which she co-produced and directed a music video titled Never Forget Who You Are from Singing Revolution, a musical from the USA, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2022. Säde is also a member of the Estonian Filmmakers Association.
Vivian Säde
Contact
Vivian Säde moondustfilms vivian@vivianfilms.com
SNOWFLAKES
Project original title: Snowflakes Country: Czech Republic Genre: youth/teen, comedy Screenwriters: Hana Neničková, Věra Starečková Producer: Daniel Bleha Production company: Film Kolektiv Language: Czech Type: limited series Number of episodes: 10 Duration of episode (in minutes): 15
Logline
One cabin, ten classmates, eleven different stories.
Synopsis
Snowflakes is a series about ten high school classmates who are trapped in a cabin’s attic during a heavy snowstorm. The electricity stops working and out of boredom, they decide to narrate short stories. Through this idea, each of them has the chance to reflect on their specific life experiences. Each episode mirrors our characters’ personalities by focusing on a different topic, theme, and genre. For example, the narration and style of a love story helps one of the students to come out to his classmates whereas notorious slasher genre conventions are used to show a bullied student's fear to stand up for himself. This approach offers us a chance to make each episode play-
MIDPOINT Smash Cut 2022
CZECH REPUBLIC
ful and distinctive. The more light-hearted episodes inspired by musicals or cooking shows are mixed with darker episodes that explore the topics of toxic masculinity or first drug experiences.
Screenwriters
Hana Neničková has obtained a bachelor’s degree in Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy from Prague's FAMU where she is currently finishing her master’s. She directed a short movie called Unrelated Son which was co-produced by Czech Television and finished second movie, The Other Side of the Farmland inspired by a Moravian folklore. Currently she is developing several TV shows. She is mostly focused on opening up feminist issues and experimenting with genres.
Věra Starečková is currently finishing her master’s degree in Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy Prague's FAMU. She is a co-writer of short films Dance Like a Gypsy, Father’s Hands, and Misophonia Orchestra. Her short The Butterfly Attack was shot this August. Meanwhile, she is a part of a writers’ room in the Prague based production company Bionaut where she is developing a detective series.
Producer
Daniel is finishing his master's degree at the Department of Production at FAMU in Prague. During his studies, he participated in the production of several short fiction films and documentaries, the organisation of festivals, and co-founded the VOD platform Famu Films. He collaborated on several film and television projects and music videos for the production company Film Kolektiv, where he has been working since 2021. He is presently engaged in the development of mainly TV series projects.
Contact
Daniel Bleha Film Kolektiv dan@filmkolektiv.cz
